Need Yorkshire pudding help

[dispor]

I am making mini yorkshire puddings for my daughter to take in to school for a project on England. I have never had yorkshire pudding, and have no idea what it is supposed to taste like. They do look like the pictures I have seen, so I'm pretty sure I am making them correctly.

Anyhow, I am still seeing oil in the middle of each pudding. Not a lot, but it doesn't absorb even after they have cooled down. Is this normal?

Also, I know it is traditionally served with roast beef, but I am sending it in to school with jam instead. The pudding will not be warmed up. Does anyone in England eat them that way??

Thanks!

 

[kingdomkeeper]

No, never with jam...they are not a sweet dessert type thing, despite the name "pudding".
As you said typically served with roast beef (and gravy). Sometimes they are served in restaraunts giant sized and stuffed with the roast beef and gravy with potatoes on the side.

 

[tigercat]

I don't usually have oil in the middle but I know that my husband loves them with butter instead of with gravy.
tigercat

 

[Luvstotravel]

No jam! Yorkshire pudding isn't a dessert.

 

[BadPinkTink]

@dispor hey just saw this, hope I'm not too late

Yorkshire Pudding as the PP have said are not sweet pudding, they are a savoury dish. It is basically a substitute carb in a meal, like potatoes would be. It is traditional served with roast beef and brown meat gravy. It originally was a poor persons food, adding a cheap carb to bulk up a meal with little meat. It could be cooked in an oven at the same time as the stew or roast and moistened with the roasting juices from the meat.

to make them

1. Prepare a batter, like you would for crepes, not buttermilk pancakes. Use only milk, flour and eggs
2. Use a muffin / cupcake tin tray to cook them
3. Put some oil , about a dessertspoon , in the base of each muffin / cupcake space
4. Preheat the tin, with the oil
5. When the oil is hot, then add a ladle of the batter into each space
6. Cook , bake in the oven

The batter will rise up the sides and the oil will soak into the bottom and stop it rising. This creates a bowl like effect.
When they are served, gravy is usually served in the centre.

Oh and the gravy is brown, meat gravy, not the white kind that is eaten in the USA with biscuits.

 

[crazee4mickey]

Our family eats them all the time, grew up on them....no, ours never have oil in them

Yes, we always have them(at least 3 times a month) with roast beef, gravy and all the fixings but if you have any leftover (BTW, this does not happen often as they are delicious!) we eat them with jam just because they are good....you are not crazy thinking that....my grandparents were born and raised in England/Scotland and this where we all got it from

Are you making from scratch?

 

[crazee4mickey]

Googled it because I thought our family isn't nuts for doing this and this is what I found....sorry previous posters but you are making it sound like it is ridiculous to even think of serving with jam....
http://www.yorkshirepudd.co.uk/yorkshire-pudding-history/

"That aside, Yorkshire Pudding is still a staple of the British Sunday lunch and in some cases is eaten as a separate course prior to the main meat dish. This is the traditional way to eat the pudding and is still common in parts of Yorkshire today. There is a reason for this too.

Because the rich gravy from the roast meat drippings was used up with the first course, the main meat and vegetable course was often served with a parsley or white sauce. This was a cheap way to fill diners, thus stretching the use of more expensive ingredients since the Yorkshire pudding was served first. Should you wish to tighten those purse strings, this is one way to do it. If you’re anything like us though, you like to load your plate with all the trimmings – Yorkshire included, so forget the other two courses! If, after all of that, you are ready for dessert, do like we do in some areas of Yorkshire and fill the pudding with jam, or as a “pudding” in the true sense, try jam and ice cream."

 

[crazee4mickey]

Here is my mom's, which was my grandma and great grandma's recipe:

2 large eggs
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of oil
1 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt

**Eggs and milk should be at at room temperature

Beat eggs until frothy
Add the milk and oil
Beat in flour and salt
Mix well, let it sit for about an hour or so then pour into greased muffin tins--fill each cup half full with batter
Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes


Good luck!

 

[Danauk]

As a person who was born in Yorkshire, whose family still live in Yorkshire and who knows an awful lot of Yorkshire folk (from both North, South, West and East Riding of Yorkshire) I can honestly say I have never heard of anyone having jam in their Yorkshire Pudding. Google obviously says otherwise, but I have never known this. Growing up we always had our Yorkshire Pudding before our main roast meal, served just with beef gravy.

OP, my Yorkshire puddings never have oil pooling in the bottom, they are always crisp. You need to make sure the oil is really hot before you put the batter mixture in.

 

[BelleBriarRose]

This thread is making me hungry! My family always has Yorkshire pudding for Christmas. They should be crispy, as other posters have mentioned, and the best way to make sure this happens is to keep the oven shut once they're in there. If you open the oven to check on them, they'll fall flat and that might be where your puddles of oil are coming from.

 

[ronandannette]

OP, do they sell the product above ^ in your local grocery store? I use it and it's fool-proof. My guess is that you're either using too much oil in your muffin tins or as others have mentioned, it's not hot enough when you put the batter in. In needs to be practically smoking, and you need to fill them all FAST and get the oven door closed again. As for your question about what they taste like? Nothing, really. That's what makes them the perfect "vessel" for brown gravy!

 

[ThistleMae]

When I've had them, we used the hot pan drippings from the roast to put into the baking tins. Omg.....delicious!

 

[leebee]

Yorkshire pudding and popovers are basically the same creature, one savory and one less so. Yorkshire pudding traditionally uses the meat fat drippings to grease the tins and popovers use butter (or oil). PP is correct in saying the fat in the pan/muffin cups (regardless of origin) needs to be practically smoking before adding the batter. If you didn't use meat drippings to make your puddings, they'll taste OK if you send jam with them… but then they'd be popovers! I think both YP and popovers taste just fine without being topped by anything- perhaps that's the way to send them to school.

 

[minnie mum]

Our family has strong English/Scottish ties, and I agree with leebee. What the OP has described would be called popovers in our family. Yorkshire pudding, whether it was a large pan sized one or individual sizes, was always made with pan drippings and primarily served with gravy. Only the very rare leftovers might be eaten with jam. But only if there was no left over gravy.

But I think we can all at least agree that the problem she has with her end product is either from too much oil in the bottom or the oil wasn't hot enough when the batter was added. Or both.

 

[dispor]

Thank you all for your responses! I wish I had tried to make these before today.

I'm less worried about the jam, and more worried about the oil and the fact that they are not at all crisp. But they do taste like "nothing," so at least that part is correct! LOL!

Yes, I made them from scratch from a recipe I found online. 2 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 cup vegetable oil. Whisk eggs, then whisk in milk and salt. Whisk in sifted flour. Put a little oil in each tin. Preheat oiled pan until smoking.

So... thinking the oil sounded weird to begin with, I instead tried putting butter in the first time, and it burnt while the pan was preheating. So, I went with the original recipe and used the oil. I ended up preheating the pan for 3 minutes (not the 5-10 the recipe called for) because I was afraid of it smoking too much. (It didn't smoke at all after 3 minutes.) Per the instructions, while filling the mini muffin tins, I put the pan on one of the lit cooktop burners. It sizzled when I put the batter in....

I baked them in a dark, nonstick pan and used the convection oven.

I am seriously thinking of trying to make up a batch of shortbread cookies instead (another item I have never tried to make before!). My daughter said not to bother...

 

[SMD]

Thank you all for your responses! I wish I had tried to make these before today.

I'm less worried about the jam, and more worried about the oil and the fact that they are not at all crisp. But they do taste like "nothing," so at least that part is correct! LOL!

Yes, I made them from scratch from a recipe I found online. 2 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 cup vegetable oil. Whisk eggs, then whisk in milk and salt. Whisk in sifted flour. Put a little oil in each tin. Preheat oiled pan until smoking.

So... thinking the oil sounded weird to begin with, I instead tried putting butter in the first time, and it burnt while the pan was preheating. So, I went with the original recipe and used the oil. I ended up preheating the pan for 3 minutes (not the 5-10 the recipe called for) because I was afraid of it smoking too much. (It didn't smoke at all after 3 minutes.) Per the instructions, while filling the mini muffin tins, I put the pan on one of the lit cooktop burners. It sizzled when I put the batter in....

I baked them in a dark, nonstick pan and used the convection oven.

I am seriously thinking of trying to make up a batch of shortbread cookies instead (another item I have never tried to make before!). My daughter said not to bother...

If your daughter says not to bother, I'd probably not make the effort. But, what about scones? They sell a just add water scone mix at Cost Plus that I used in multiple flavors both doctored and with just water for a tea last year and they went over very well.

 

[mtemm]

Shortbread is super easy, if you hate the puddings and want to make something that would be perfect

 

[ronandannette]

Thank you all for your responses! I wish I had tried to make these before today.

I'm less worried about the jam, and more worried about the oil and the fact that they are not at all crisp. But they do taste like "nothing," so at least that part is correct! LOL!

Yes, I made them from scratch from a recipe I found online. 2 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 cup vegetable oil. Whisk eggs, then whisk in milk and salt. Whisk in sifted flour. Put a little oil in each tin. Preheat oiled pan until smoking.

So... thinking the oil sounded weird to begin with, I instead tried putting butter in the first time, and it burnt while the pan was preheating. So, I went with the original recipe and used the oil. I ended up preheating the pan for 3 minutes (not the 5-10 the recipe called for) because I was afraid of it smoking too much. (It didn't smoke at all after 3 minutes.) Per the instructions, while filling the mini muffin tins, I put the pan on one of the lit cooktop burners. It sizzled when I put the batter in....

I baked them in a dark, nonstick pan and used the convection oven.

I am seriously thinking of trying to make up a batch of shortbread cookies instead (another item I have never tried to make before!). My daughter said not to bother...

LOL - shortbread is another thing that sounds easy (only 3 ingredients) but takes a knack. Maybe try sending in a bottle of malt vinegar for everybody to taste? I know it sounds like a stupid idea, but it's actually kind of iconic; Brits eat it on their chips (french fries). There's likely lots of kids in your DD's class that haven't seen or tried it before - it could work.

 

[low-key]

Yes get a Yorkshire puppy, there so cute

 

[dispor]

Awww, what a cute puppy!

I had thought about scones, but thought they would be too difficult (before I knew how hard Yorkshire pudding would be...). The malt vinegar would have been a great idea, and definitely British!

I ended up making the shortbread. Three ingredients, 20 minutes in the oven. I only broke two of them getting them out of the pan. They taste like Lorna Doone's! Wish I had just done this from the beginning!

I wonder what British moms would make if they had to make something "American." Apple pie? Chocolate chip cookies?

Thanks again for the help!